Robin Becker is the author of the new poetry collection Midsummer Count: New and Selected Poems. Her many other books include The Black Bear Inside Me. She is a liberal arts research professor emerita in English and women's studies at the Pennsylvania State University, and she lives in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.
Q: Over how long a period did you write the poems collected in Midsummer Count?
A: The poems in Midsummer Count span a 50-year period, forming a neat half-century.
I think of my first poems as emerging from the turbulence of the 1970s, especially the cultural shifts brought about by the women’s movement.
In a recent poem, the speaker refers to her mistrust of the current president and her fear of current government practices.
My first book, Personal Effects, came out in 1976 with Alice James Press.
Q: How was the collection’s title (also the title of one of the poems) chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: Midsummer, for me, is the richest and most gorgeous time of year, and I’ve cherished it since I was a child.
In the poem, the speaker recalls a group of childhood friends—girls, “changelings,” genderless creatures not yet boxed and categorized. Comparing these pre-pubescent girls to ponies and ducks and young vassals, the speaker imagines herself in “bright plumage,” starring in her own “Midsummer Count.” A love for and an identification with other living creatures infuses the poem with joy.
At the same time, the longest day of the year portends the inevitable shortening of days, an “accounting” that requires we pay attention to time in its many manifestations.
The actual “Midsummer Count” refers to organized bird counts that take place throughout the year in various places. The Audubon Society leads two major citizen-participation bird counts, the annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) and the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) in February. Others, organized by state (such as Connecticut) run summer bird counts.
A “Midsummer Count” holds both glory and decline. It acknowledges the dualities and contradictions and inevitabilities within which we live our mortal lives. I thought it would make a good title for a New and Selected.
Q: How did you choose the order in which the poems would appear in the book?
A: I thought about organizing the poems by theme but eventually decided to create a chronological collection, starting with the most recent poems. This choice emphasizes the book-by-book development, showcasing selected poems from each earlier collection.
As in every New and Selected, this one does not include many poems that would contribute to a more “complete” picture, but space limitations required that I make hard decisions. A more “complete” picture will have to wait for another occasion!
Q: The poet Alicia Ostriker said of the book, “Robin Becker’s voice as a poet is unique. It is complex. There’s a rasp in it, but also a sweet viola.” What do you think of that description?
A: I’m especially fond of Alicia Ostriker’s characterization of my voice here, and I’m grateful for the words “rasp” and “sweet viola.” Sometimes we want language that abrades or files or scrapes; and, sometimes we seek language that sings—delicious, fragrant, fresh. I like thinking that Alicia found complexity and a range of tones in this book.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Like many poets, I’m trying to find a way to respond to our current political climate, and I’m struggling to find the language to do so. Simultaneously, I want to write about this “new” stage of life; I’ll be 75 years old in March.
Oddly, when I start to write about being an older person, I end up recalling —and writing about—an important childhood event. I’m currently working on a poem that includes the young Black woman who left Georgia to work for my family in Philadelphia, caring for two white children while leaving her own son in the care of her mother.
I’m interested in the impact of the Great Migration on white, Jewish families like mine. All of my grandparents were born in Russia or what was called The Pale of Settlement.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Interviews, readings, and publications related to the book will take place throughout 2026. Please check my Amazon author page and my UNM Author page for information on readings around the country this year.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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